Strangers From Another World 9 A Way Out Part 2

In time, Alex's feet would reach the moist ground below, and after Gene had descended, he handed out torches for each of them, lighting them up with the one in his hand. The three torches brought light to the originally dark tunnel, and what unveiled before Alex' eyes is a brand new realm that had been right beneath his feet, a world with cold walls and ceiling, with an ever flowing stream of water in between the two elevated walkways by the side. Basically, it's the sewers.

"This place doesn't smell as bad as I was expecting it to be. Actually, isn't this too clean for a sewerage system?"

It's true, the walls, though wet, were clean, and the water was inexplicably clear. Where are the trash and human waste? How is it this clean?

"The city of Atra employs very special 'cleaners' to take care of the sewers. Look, there one right now." Gene pointed at the walkway on the other side, and there, a translucent ma.s.s could be seen.

With his mystic eyes, Alex could tell that the ma.s.s was made up entirely of water, with the exception of a small crystal the size of a cherry at the center of its body.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"Yep, it's a slime," Tina replied him, "They're made by mages, and are designed to eat everything organic they come across. So you best be careful, if you accidentally step in one, it'll eat you right up."

Alex gulped. "Seriously!?"

"Don' listen to her. Slimes of that size aren't remotely dangerous, and it certainly can't eat you right up. It takes a good amount of time for them to dissolve whatever they consume, and so long as you don't, say, leave you hand within its body for more than twenty-four hours, then you'll be fine. And since they are also designed to fear sunlight, they mostly never leave the sewers."

"All of that is true," Tina felt the need to add, "Unless of course, it's the outbreak season."

"Outbreak season?"

"Yep. Once every year, the slimes down here will start to reproduce at a incredible pace, and once the sewers ran out of food and s.p.a.ce, they'll begin to head towards the surface in large numbers and start attacking everything in ma.s.sive swarms, and the swarms will the so ma.s.sive, they could hold an entire cow in it," Tina explained as she stretches her hand as far as she could reach, but even that was not enough to represent the true size of the terrifying swarm.

"Then why would anyone keep these things here?"

"Well, they clean up nice for one, and for two, outbreak seasons are also good business for certain industries," Tina then leered at Gene. "Ain't that right, Mr. Adventurer?"

Hearing the words "adventurer" being mentioned puts a sparkle in Alex's eyes, and he turned towards Gene with a look of antic.i.p.ation.

"While I don't like to give the impression that Tina can give credible information-" Gene was punched in the shoulder, he took no damage. "She was quite correct this time. The slimes of Atra have mainly two functions within the city. One is to clean the sewerage system, and two is the production of magic crystals," Gene then pointed at the slime on the other side, sulking about with its small round body quivering with every move. "See that one over there."

"Yeah? What about it?"

"The core of the slime, the crystal inside that one is small currently, containing but a small amount of mana and makes a poor catalyst for spells. However, when it's ready to reproduce, the crystal will swell in size, and it will contain much, much more mana and make a better quality catalyst. So, during outbreak seasons, when the slimes are ready to reproduce, the adventurers will come down here to harvest the crystals and the Adventurers' Guild will pay them for it. Afterwards, the Adventurers' Guild will then sell them to the Mages' Guild, where they will process the crystals and make them into magical tools. The wand I gave you is one such product."

Alex took a look at his wand, noticing that the gem attached to the wand's base looks rather similar to the slime's crystal.

"Oh my, such a small crystal. Gene, you cheapskate!" Tina commented, playful with her tone.

"For a beginner, it'll do just fine. Once he gets better, he can get another one, custom made for his style and attribute."

"Attributes?" Alex's curiosity was once again roused when he heard the key word.

"Yes, every person has a different attribute, it determines what spells they're good at and what they are not. The Mages' Guild provides the service of measuring it for you if you like to know, and personally, if you're serious about learning magic, I suggest you go do just that one of these days."

Now Alex has something to look forward to. I wonder what my attribute is, he thought excitedly.

"Anyways, let's get a move on, I like to get out of here before the end of the night."

***

The three ventures deeper into the sewers, Tina taking the lead. While clean and free of not so much as a single rat, the sewers do have issues with it, and one of them is its labyrinth-like structure. This was not by design, and more so the result of countless renovations to accommodate the city during its rapid growth as the capital of Cygnus. To find a way out without a map was impossible, and even then, the maps currently available does not feature the entirety of the sewers and from time to time, incidents of adventurers getting lost here are frequent, and if by any chance you were to die here, there would likely be nothing left of you to find by the end of the day, for the slimes would have 'cleaned' you up. Due to the fact that it's difficult to navigate and the fact that the slimes absolutely clean everything up, the sewers had become an excellent dumping sites for those that need certain individuals to mysteriously disappear.

Due to the difficulty of navigating the sewers, when Tina suggested that they find an exit out of the city through it, Gene was having none of it. It was only when Tina had finally revealed her secret did Gene relent. As for the secret, it was the fact that Tina was a holder of a mystic sight, the Mystic Sight of Guidance, which shows its holder the path he or she can take to reach a specific goal. As the sight manifest itself as a line, Tina had gotten around to call it [Critical Line].

With [Critical Line], Tina is to lead them out of the city through the labyrinthine sewerage system.

"But to think there's another mystic sight holder so close to us," Alex said.

"They're not that rare, there's about one in a hundred that holds a mystic sight, though most of them aren't that useful, like letting you see an extra spectrum of color and the likes."

"Really!? I wonder who's going around handing out these mystic sights."

"Beats me, there's all kinds of G.o.ds and spirits and demons in this world, there's bound to be one or two running around doing just that."

"Well, whoever gave them to me, I'd like to thank them someday, these eyes got me out of trouble more times than I can count," said Tina, joining in the conversation.

"Rather than eyes, I sure wish someone would give you something with more fabric to wear. Speaking of, what happened to that dress you got back there?"

"I can't wear that here, it'll get ruined by all this moisture! Do you have any idea how expensive that is?"

"Do you?"

"What do you mean by that!?"

"I'm betting that you stole it, is what I'm saying."

"Oh, so just 'cause I'm a thief, you a.s.sume I just go ahead and steal things, huh!"

"Uhh... yes?"

"Well, you a.s.sumed right. But I liked that dress, no way am I bringing it down here."

"Uh-huh."

"Why, am I distracting you too much?" Tina turned to Gene, grinning like an evil cat.

"I'm surprised you have the audacity to ask."

"Oh my, my, my, the big bad Sword Saint can't keep his eyes off little ol' me?"

"Are those fighting words? They sound like fighting words."

Feeling that things can't go anywhere but nosedive right down a cliff, Alex leapt in between them a used what strength he has to wedge the two apart.

"C-c-come on now, this is seriously not the time for this," he said, nervously.

In response, Gene patted Alex on the shoulder and Tina patted his head.

"Looks like you found a good one, Gene."

"Well, if only they can all be this pleasant then I wouldn't be having such a hard time."

And then the two continued on as if nothing happened. It' seems, Alex thought, that for all their bickering, these two may not get along more than they seem at first glance. Perhaps they could even be close enough to be called friends. Though Alex had always thought that he'd be fine even if he's by himself, having been spirited away into this world, he was beginning to have an appreciation for the idea of having a friend he could count on.

***

"Oh, boy," Tina uttered.

"Oh, boy indeed," Gene commented.

"I, um, reckon that this isn't normal?" Alex questioned.

The three are now stuck. According to Tina's [Critical Line], this was supposed to be the way. However, the path this way was blocked, blocked by a large ma.s.s of watery blob.

"Well, what are we going to do now?" Tina asked.

"Wasn't it supposed to be your plan?" said Gene.

"I- I know, but, I didn't account for that!" She pointed towards the gigantic slime blocking the way.

Within the slime's body, buried behind thick walls of water, there lies its cores, all five of them, and they were all about the size of tennis b.a.l.l.s, incredibly large when compared to the other slimes that they had pa.s.sed on their way here.

"Are you sure this is the only way out?" Gene asked.

"That's what my [Critical Line] says, yes."

"No choice then, we'll just have to get rid of it."

Gene turned his sight over towards Alex, and feeling Gene's expectation, Alex nodded.

"What should I do?"

"Use your fire spell, evaporate its body."

"Will that kill it?"

"No, there's plenty of water around so as long as a single core is still intact, I'm sure the slime can restore itself. I want you to burn through its body for me so that I can reach those cores."

"Alright then, shouldn't be a problem."

Alex took a deep breath and readies himself. Then, he whipped out his wand and concentrates, focusing within himself to draw out mana from the core of his being. He guides them through his arm, and then his hand, then into his wand.

"[Conflagration]!" he called out, and a great fire spewed out from the tip of his wand and hurled itself towards the large slime.

Then, in reaction to the fire, the cores of the slimes began to glow with the light of magic, and through his mystic sight, Alex understood what they were doing. The slime, it's casting a spell, one called [Reinforce: Magic Resistance].

The fire did not even make a dent, the strength of all five cores combined overpowered Alex's flames.

"Impossible... A slime that can use magic? Since when did mutant variants get so advanced?"

"Mutant variants?"

"Yes, Alex, mutants. The slimes' cores you see, after duplicating themselves several amount of times to reproduce, an 'imperfection' can form within the command spells within. Command spells are the magic within the core that determines the behavior of a slime, the core is the slime's brain basically. So when 'imperfections' form within the core it can cause the slime to behave differently, those we call the mutant variants. There are the kinds that don't do anything and simply sit still, and there are those that only consume other slimes, and I've even seen a slime that's shaped like a cube. However, never have I seen one that uses magic like this. It can't be natural."

"You're saying that someone made this?"

"Most likely. I'll have to report to the Adventurers' Guild about this, but right now-"

All of a sudden, the giant slime started moving towards them, it's not very fast, but it's coming.

"Is it going to attack?"

"If it is indeed artificial, I'd say it'll likely have a proper self-defense function within its command spells."

"W-what are we going to do now!? Think of something, Gene! Oh, I know, you have innately high magic resistant right? Why don't you just reach in and grab the cores. The water that makes up the body is magically controlled by the core, so if you-"

"Don't be stupid, Tina! The d.a.m.n things has five cores, five! It can overpower my magic resistance no problem."

As they were bickering, once more, the cores glowed with magical light, and from within the slime's body, water began to solidify, forming a sharply pointed icicle, and shot it out towards the three.

They all simultaneously ducked and the icicle flew over them and stuck itself into a wall on the far end.

"Screw this, let's get out of here!" Gene yelled.

And all three of them started running, with the giant slime slithering behind them shooting high velocity icicle towards them in short intervals.

"Stay right behind me, RIGHT behind me, you hear!" shouted Tina, relying on her [Critical Line] to avoid the trajectories of the icicle shots.

The three ran in a single file line, leaping back and forth from the walkway on one side to the other, and through they could feel their legs being worn down, not far away from them, is a path turning towards the right. If they make it there and turn the corner, they could catch a breather from the barrage of icicles and Alex could take the chance to form a boulder to seal the path.

With their sights set on that turn, they worked their legs to the limit, and then, from that turn, three figures emerged, wearing armor with them emblem of a s.h.i.+eld set before a sword upon them.

"d.a.m.n it, what are they doing here!?" Gene recognized their emblem, and so does Tina, that is the emblem of the City Guards.

At the same time Gene had spotted them, so did the guards, and they seem to be as surprised as Gene was.

"That's the Sword Saint, and that's the Stranger, we actually found them!" said one of the guards.

"Stop right there, criminal sc.u.m!" shouted another.

All three guards drew their swords.

"Their armor is magic resistant, what now?" asked Alex after looking at them with his mystic sight.

The three guards before them are not particularly strong or skilled, that much Gene could tell. If he and Tina strike together, then they'll dispatch them easily. The problem was with the slime behind them, it'll catch up in that time, and if they were caught up with dealing with the guards, even if for just a moment, one of them could be hit by the icicles, icicle with enough velocity and sharpness to pierce a stone wall, that wouldn't be a laughing matter. However, if they don't deal with the guards, they can't proceed, and the slime will catch up, and of course, they can't turn back towards the slime either.

The only way out, as Gene had decided, is to deal with them both.

"Alex, make steam, lots of it, aim for the water at the guard's feet!"

"Roger that!" Alex quickly complied, figuring that steam would easily go through their armor, causing some good amount of pain and at the same time, work as a smoke screen for the three of them if they could fend off the heat somehow.

"What about me?" Tina asked.

"You just stay out- I mean stay behind us."

"Wait, what was that first part?"

"Not now, woman!"

Within the slime's body, another icicle was formed. For a brief moment, Gene wondered if it can't fire off multiple of those things at once. If it could, he thought, then I'd be in big trouble. However, that thing also needs to maintain its large body, so perhaps that is why it could only do one at a time.

With haste, Gene formed his staff from the three rods, completing it the same time as the shooting of the icicle. The etching on the surface of the staff glowed with magical light and a [s.h.i.+eld] was formed in front of him just a split second before the icicle hits. The [s.h.i.+eld] this time was not round or spherical in shape, but instead it was a cone, made to deflect instead of taking on the hit head on, greatly reducing the cost of mana that would be needed for the st.u.r.diness of the [s.h.i.+eld]. The mana within the staff was one separate from his body, and therefore could be used without the need to consider the penalties of his innately high magic resistance. However, the downside is that the mana imbued within the staff was a limited resource that does not regenerate like the mana within the body. He would have to use it with care if he does not want it to run out at the worst of timing.

By the cone shaped [s.h.i.+eld], the icicle was deflected to the side, cras.h.i.+ng into a corner of the ceiling, and for a moment, Gene feared that the whole thing would collapse on them. Fortunately, it held out.

Meanwhile Alex was dealing with the guards. With his wand out, the guards were cautious of him despite the fact that their armor is enchanted with magic resistance and did not approach carelessly. This is due to the fact that though magic resistance does provide a good amount of protection against magic, it is not absolute, and there are still ways to circ.u.mvent it.

"[Conflagration]!" Alex called out, aiming his magic at the water as he was told.

The spell packed a great amount of mana, and as a result, the fire was much, much hotter. Gene wanted "lots of steam" and he was going to get it.

As expected, the water vaporized rapidly, and steam erupted from the ca.n.a.l in between the walkways. The guards screamed out in fright and Alex reflexively casted [Gale] to keep the steam from flowing toward his direction and kept them around the guards.

"That's good, Alex, keep the steam on them," said Gene, somehow able to keep tabs on the situation on both sides.

"Now what?" Alex asked.

"Now watch-" Gene was cut off by another icicle, one of which he fortunately deflected and crashed into a nearby wall. "Watch and learn."

Alex focus his mystic sight, guessing that was what Gene had meant by "watch", and within the cloud of piping hot steam, he began to understand what Gene had meant by "learn".

The steam, upon contact with the magic resistant armor of the guards, rapidly losses the heat it had gained from Alex's fire magic, and as such, began to cool, and as water does when it suddenly cools, it freezes, and in hardly any time at all, the guards' armors were coated in a thick sheet of ice, rendering them immobile.

"I- I can't move!" said one of the guards.

"The armor... it's frozen!" said another.

In the end, magic resistance was not without weaknesses, and that was something Gene learned through the hard way.

"The path is clear! Let's go!" cried Tina, as she watches the slime come ever closer.

However, before they could withdraw- "Wait!" cried no one else but Alex, and he points towards the guards. "We can't just leave them here, can we?"

"Why not!? They're just guards!" Tina said in a panic, very much aware that even as they speak, the slime approaches.

"But-"

"No buts, Alex! Living in this world ain't easy. If you don't look after yourself, no one will."

No doubt, Alex thought, I'm sure it's not easy. Not for you, or for Gene. I'm sure that's how it is when you came to a world knowing nothing about it, knowing no one. But...

"But there's Gene. He was there for me. I mean sure, he isn't the gentlest guy around, but he was there. He broke me out of that cell and ever since then, he's been teaching me about this world nonstop. He did all that, when we might as well be strangers to one another."

Alex could see Tina's eyes twitch for a moment. Was that anger? Or was that... envy? Then, he heard another icicle cras.h.i.+ng into the wall, and when he turned to look, Gene had not yet moved from his spot.

"Gene...?"

Gene turned around only slightly just so he could show them his cheeky grin while at the same time keeping tabs on the slime. "Here's how I see it," he said, "The slime here seems more focus on maintaining its large wall-like body than killing us, almost as if it's saying that we are not going to pa.s.s, almost as if rather than trying to kill us, it's chasing us off. But we need to pa.s.s don't we? Is our way out still the same, Tina?"

"Y-yes... the [Critical Line] still leads to towards the same direction, beyond that slime."

"Then we have no choice do we. We have to break through."

"Can we do it?" Alex asked, not doubting that they can, trusting Gene to already have a plan, as he had shown countless time since they met.

"Of course," Gene said confidently, arrogantly even. "In fact, the conditions for our victory have just been met."

***

End of Chapter 9